Rangiora St John's Anglican Cemetery

Around 1860, early settlers in Rangiora made an application to the Canterbury Provincial Council for a suitable area of land for a cemetery. A site was decided on in Ashley Street. The first burial was that of a Baptist, Mr David Doggett, who had been buried on private property. His remains were re-interred in the supposed public cemetery. However, it was found soon afterwards that the land had been registered by mistake as belonging to the Anglican Parish of Rangiora, and the newly arrived incumbent, the Venerable Archdeacon Benjamin W. Dudley, felt justified in declining permission for any further non-conformist burials therein. Although the Rev. Dudley later offered to set aside a portion for their use, the non-conformists decided to go their own way. Many of the pioneers of Rangiora and surrounding districts are buried in this cemetery. Mary Ursula Bethell, 1874-1945, the poet, is interred in her family’s plot. (Notes from Waimakariri District Council)